DULWICH 198 (42.3) beat BANSTEAD 187 (39.5) by 11 runs

League leaders Dulwich travelled to second-placed Banstead for a top-of-the table clash, the format reverting from time to limited overs. Captain Peters lost the toss but was happy enough to be put in on a scorching afternoon, with a fast outfield and a short square boundary on one side. With Zeeshan cutting his arrival a little too fine to take his customary opener's position, Peters led partner Irvine out to the middle, puffed out his not-inconsiderable chest and wasted no time destroying the hearts, minds and souls of the Banstead opening bowlers. A top-edged pull for six in the third over was followed by four successive boundaries in the fourth, including a bludgeoning straight drive, a head-high no ball thumbed over the keeper and a good length ball edged though second slip's hands. Banstead's youthful first change bowler had clearly not learnt the adage 'they that sow the wind must reap the whirlwind' as he recklessly engaged Captain Peters in some 'chat', only to be told, as Peters dispatched the next ball past the oldest fielder to the longest part of the boundary: 'Watch me run four off your bowling. Just watch me." El Capitano brought up his 50 in just the seventh over wih a brutal square cut and a couple of sand wedges over midwicket. With Irvine playing an excellent foil, running excellently between the wickets and hitting the odd classy boundary, the hundred partnership came up in the 15th over. Dulwich were bossing it.

However, Banstead's introduction of calmer heads and slower deliveries dragged back the scoring rate and soon Alex chipped to mid off for an excellent 34. Zeeshan took his customary three seconds to assess the pitch conditions before engaging in a personal game of one-upmanship with the field, blasting a four over mid on and next ball, with the man now at long on, smashing a six into the field behind him. The long-on conquest having thus been achieved, Zeeshan targeted the off side only to find the fielder at his first attempt. From a highwater mark of 140 for 1, Dulwich lost four wickets for one run thanks to some poor shot selection and some excellently impartial umpiring from Knightly. Captain Peters, with a triple-century in his sights, joined the general malaise and missed a heave to be bowled for a belligerent 86. Benny Lester's Michael Vaughan impression was excellent for a while but, with Banstead bowling with much greater control, scoring opportunities dried up and Dulwich scored only 26 from the last 10 overs. The innings finished when young Max Swanson disappointingly opted not to reverse switch hit his first ball, as all youngsters are taught to do these days, and instead middled a classical late cut straight to first slip. Swainy was left high and dry and secretly thrilled with an unbeaten 8 that doubled his batting average for the season. Banstead had fought back superbly and 193 was an eminently gettable target on a pitch that was still good for batting.

Nonethless, after an excellent tea, Dulwich came out confident that their bewildering array of bowling options would get them home. A neat catch by Will Burgass off Sunil was just reward for a controlled opening spell but Banstead settled in well. At 60-odd for 1, with opener Mayor and the dangerous Sultan starting to open up, Dulwich needed a bit of magic and sure enough Lester produced a delivery straight from the bottom drawer – a loopy long-hop that was toed to Alex at square leg. Shortly afterwards Mayor was pinned on the back foot by a ripping off break slow full toss but the umpire remained unmoved. It was at this point that the match became somewhat needly. Will had begun a steady spell at one end but it was Lester's wiles that suckered out two more wickets, including Mayor to an excellent running catch at deep mid wicket by Alex. Banstead however were well ahead of the run rate and moving steadily towards the target, with 55 needed off 15 overs and six wickets in hand. With a last desperate throw of the dice, Captain Peters summoned Knighty back to the top end. Charging in down the hill like an 80-year old Caucasian Patrick Patterson, Knighty unleashed the proverbial 'pace like fire'. His first ball was gloved to Captain Peters. Five down. His fourth flew off the edge to Pickles at slip, who almost wet himself with joy at holding onto the chance. Swainy had begun an excellent spell at the other end and suddenly Dulwich were back in it. The equation had narrowed to 30 with 4 wickets left when Knighty- Captain Peters conjoined joyously once again to produce another wicket-child. Ten nail-biting runs later Swainy got another one to nibble into Captain Peters gloves, then sharp work from Will at gully next ball made it nine down. Knightly's last over was successfully repelled and with plenty of overs still remaining to get the runs, Dulwich needed a wicket to seal it. Swainy got pumped over mid off for four but next ball jagged one back into the stumps off a mixture of inside edge and pad. Cue celebrations.

Dulwich's win opens up a 17 point lead at the top but there's no room for complacency as they travel to Reigate next week.

Following the old adage that fact is stranger than fiction, I can inform you that all three are true and joking aside, Prasanna’s innings drove the opposition, Sinjungrammarians, wild – reducing them to fighting and trading insults amongst themselves. But more of that later…

Starting the game six points behind leaders Banstead, skipper Matt Dixon took a much changed side to Wandsworth with 4th team debuts for Alex Irvine and James Worley. Arriving a few minutes before the scheduled start of play (due to you-know-who), he promptly lost the toss and was invited to have first go on a hard track that looked like it had a bit of

With no Julian and Zeeshan, Matt and newbie Alex Irvine opened up against the accurate Sinjuns opening pair of Murtaza and Khan. Both dug in and saw the shine off the new ball, running well between the wickets and with Irvine unleashing one gorgeously timed cover drive to see the score to 60 for no wicket.

However, a bowling change brought about the wicket with evergreen maverick motor-mouth Roy Lawrence getting one through Irvine’s stoic defence. The skip went quickly after with a trademark LBW dismissal playing across the line and Stuart Gardner followed. Lawrence had three and 60-0 had quickly become 72-3 – We were having a classic 4th team wobble with Darren Casson and James Worley together at the wicket.

By this point Sinjuns appeared to have five captains on the pitch and the over rate slowed to a Charlton-esque crawl as each man re-arrange the field after ever ball. Darren then slashed a wide one to gully who clung on to a good catch whilst fully maintaining a full conversation with the slip next to him as he grasped the ball.

The unlikely 5th wicket partnership of James Worley and Prasanna Callaghan then put on 51 for the next wicket, despite an ongoing verbal battle with bowler Lawrence to take the score to 144. After a nervy start Worley found his confidence but insulted the cricketing gods by changing his bat and they prompt ensure he was dismissed next ball. Rhys came and left in two balls and suddenly the innings was unravelling.

By this time skipper Dixon was umpiring to direct the final few overs from the middle. He instructed Prasanna and new batsman Sunil Isaac to get as close to 200 as possible. In response, the pair went nuclear, blazing 60 off the next 4 overs which prompted to the Sinjun’s captain to start abusing his team in a way that wouldn’t have been politically correct in 1985…

More misery was to follow as Prasanna and Alex Vinen took 36 runs off the last nine (legal) balls to take the score to an impressive 237-8 dec. A mighty effort considering 180 looked likely a few overs previously. A decent tea was enjoyed by all and Matt got the team out as quickly as possible to avoid finishing the game at around 10pm, given the painful over rate.

With a clear message to get stuck in and attack the Sinjuns top order from the outset, opening bowlers Reeve and Isaac proved effective and accurate. Reeve bounding in with plenty of pace and enthusiasm roughed up the batsmen, whilst Sunil exploited the overcast conditions and swung the ball prestigiously. The Sinjuns batsmen struggled and Sunil quickly had three wickets – two caught behind by Prasanna and Darren and their skipper caught by Matt at mid-off. Kieran joined the party bowling Thavam and the innings reeled at 8-4.

This score brought together batsmen Zaheed Muneer and the obstinate Roy Lawrence who set about repairing the innings. Whilst Muneer looked to play his shots, Lawrence used every part of his body other than his bat. Muneer gave a chance a few overs later, but the Matt couldn’t hold a catch on the run behind the bowler’s head – a drop that proved costly later.

These two batsmen frustrated the Dulwich bowlers, putting on 159 for the 5th wicket. The skipper mixed it up with spinner Alex Vinen, Giles and Prasanna joining the attack but without any break though. Matt turned back to his opening pair and Sunil finally ended Lawrence’s stay at the crease, showing great focus to take a skied catch of his own bowling, whilst being simultaneously rugby tackled by James Worley.

We were back in the hunt – Keiran quickly bowled the new batsmen Khan to get his second wicket and Sunil followed this to claim his first five wicket haul for Dulwich, bowling Ali.

The game then took an unfortunate turn when keeper Darren Casson’s finger was badly broken. With no obviously replacements the skipper looked around the team for a volunteer and of course Prasanna was there with his hand up. Kieran was deployed as backstop and the game continued with Prasanna doing a great job behind the stumps.

Sunil picked up his 6th wicket leaving Dulwich needing 2 wickets from the last three overs. But alas, Muneer reached his century and then kept the strike to see Sinjuns home with a draw, intent on a red inker…

Although frustrated at not winning the game, there were some great performances in a much changed team that was only finalised late on Friday night. Alex Irvine and James Worley both played a part with the bat and Sunil’s 6-41 of 16 overs was a fine exhibition of controlled swing bowling. But the day did belong to Prasanna for batting, catching, bowling, sledging and keeping – it was almost enough for the skip to forgive him for being so bloody late.

News then filtered through that Banstead had lost, pushing DCC to top of the league with 5 games left. A top of the table clash with them is next with Dan Peters leading the side in Matt’s absence. The league is looking like a three horse race with Spencer certainly not out of it and all three teams still to play each other. We approach these games full of confidence and intent on securing the title.

DULWICH 63-2 (15.5) beat WOKING & HORSELL 61 (31) by 8 wickets

A day of surprises for Dulwich on Saturday as they chalked up a comfortable win in a light hearted and friendly affair at Woking.

Where to start? Firstly, JD accidentally arrived at the ground at ten past 12 rather than five to 1 which meant there was a real danger of having to find numerous excuses as to why he couldn’t take part in the warm up and fielding drills. While Swainy practiced his newly discovered off-spin and Darren practiced diving full length on the floor, JD gave the wicket the low down and concluded, wrongly as it turned out, that it would play a lot better than it looked. Rigourous warm up completed by the four of us who had arrived by ten to 1, the skipper arrived, promptly won the toss and, correctly as the format requires, stuck the opposition in.

Knighty opened up and first ball, Darren fresh from his keeping warm up, let the ball through his legs for 4. The opening bowlers settled into their usual line and lengths with both Knighty and Prasanna hitting the same area of the pitch (a good length at the end Prasanna was bowling to). Runs were at a premium (although Darren quickly sprinted towards a double figure bye tally, which was highly unfair on him given the fact that he spent most of the time airborne down the leg side).

Zeeshan finally turned up about 45 minutes late (not that anyone had noticed he wasn’t on the field). With the score on 20 after 12 overs – a miracle! – Knighty, who admittedly had been building up an ill-directed head of steam from the top end, induced the opener to have a swing and the ball spiralled gently towards mid-wicket. Normally a regulation catch would ensue, but with all eyes following the trajectory of the ball hearts sunk as we realised the skipper was under it. Fortunately, the nay-sayers were proven wrong as the skipper hauled in the catch in a fashion that would never appear in the MCC coaching manual, and ended with him resembling someone reading the paper sitting on the lav.

Two balls later, Knighty, after the hallelujah moment, that if he pitched it up he might cause some trouble, won an LBW appeal (that WK and slips didn’t appeal for…) and followed it up with another LBW (which we gladly joined in for…). The hat-trick ball, which was decent and on target, was well kept out by the new batsman and Knight had a triple wicket maiden.

Lawrence replaced Prasanna (much to the relief of Darren, who had by this time lost about a stone from throwing himself around so much) and he settled into his usual full and straight methodology (reverse Knighty). Knighty picked up another bowler’s LBW in the next over (again no appeal from those behind the wicket), before Lawrence cleaned up 2 of his own to leave the hosts in big trouble at 40-6, which became 40-7 when Knighty cleaned up the number 3 who was giving himself room as the support from the other end ran out.

There followed a brief respite as the number 9 blocked everything Lawrence threw at him and Knighty tested out the middle of the pitch for no reason other than he’s Knighty. Knighty then won another LBW decision (jury split down the middle on that one, although reward for bowling that fuller length) and then had the number 10 caught at point by Will Burgass having “given himself room” (the batsman not Will). Knighty finally blew a gasket and had to be replaced by Will who cleaned up the opposition skipper off the last ball of his first over to see the home side all out for 62.

A whole innings without any dropped catches, Knighty bowling full and straight and the skipper bagging one….we were living the dream. Knighty ended up with 7 for 31 off 15 overs and Lawrence 2 for 11 off 9.

After a decent tea with doughnuts (always a winner) Shok wandered off to watch the bowls match going on next door (or was it to get the phone number of the granny playing) whilst JD and Zeesh set about arranging an early trip home. JD got a leading edge in the third over which looped in the air and fell equidistant between mid-off, the bowler and extra cover and promptly got the trademark booming drive over mid-off out next ball to be dropped again. Zeesh, on the other hand did connect with a haymaker that cleared the ropes by some distance but not enough obviously for Prasanna who signalled a four. Cunning plan from Prasanna as it riled Zeesh so much he took 14 off the over which prompted a Red Arrows fly-past, which did seem entirely unnecessary. With 30 off the first 5 overs the game was pretty much won, so the two openers amused themselves by seeing how ridiculous the calling and running could get, the answer being very ridiculous.

The introduction of the home skipper’s decent leg spin (he could have been a handful if we were chasing 150) saw Zeesh conduct his own fly past to be out for 30, which was closely followed by Swainy coming in to occupy the pinch-blockers role. One close LBW shout later, Swainy departed the scene as the third time he touched the ball in the game was to deflect an innocuous delivery into his own stumps. Darren thumped his first ball over square leg to seal the win by 8 wickets.

It was a great performance from the seam department and credit to Woking who, although on the end of a hammering, played with a smile on their face and with good “bants” throughout. The game finishing at 5ish meant that we could head home with the hope that we could barrack the third or fifth team, in traditional 4th team fashion. Sadly, due to Lawrence’s car having a top speed of 37 ½ mph (downhill), we arrived back to discover that the threes had done a similar demolition job on their opposition and the 5s had lost a nail biter themselves. Sadly all that was left was for us to add some “beer fuelled atmosphere” to the proper game going on with the second team. A decent attendance at the bar that evening and high spirits by all saw your reporter leave at midnight for his normal soujourn home. Being a responsible human being, your reporter had already jettisoned the car at Turney Road and being on something of a fitness drive at the moment / being too tight to order an Uber, set off on the 5 mile walk home. Having rescued the lesser spotted Matten from a ditch and safely escorted him home, your reporter carried on his way to reach his door step at 2 in the morning only to realise his door keys were safely stashed in his cricket bag in the boot of the car in the now locked compound at Turney. So one joyful night’s sleep on the doorstep of the reporters house later and a 5 mile walk back to the club later to be reunited with the door keys, but surprisingly zero hangover, I feel obliged to warn younger readers of the peril of being responsible drink.

The league is the most open ever this year and with Wimbledon and Sinjuns both looking stronger in recent weeks, there is a case for anyone of seven teams being victorious at the end of the season. The 4s are back up to third six points behind top placed Banstead.

DULWICH 132-5 (40.1) beat REIGATE PRIORY 129 (36.1) by 5 wickets

The 4th XI have found themselves in unfamiliar territory recently, failing to win any of their last three games and languishing in the bottom half of the league table. So the visit of third place Reigate Priory to DSG was for many a must win game. Despite the rainy (or reverse dry) season remaining for most of the week a fairly dry (or reverse wet) pitch and outfield were waiting for the teams. Usual skipper Matt Dixon was away so Simon 'stand by skipper' Bailey was drafted in to lead the side. Things started well for Bailey as he skillfully flipped a 10 pence piece to land heads up (or reverse tails), after Reigate had called tails (or reverse heads). Bailey made the only sensible decision and elected to field (or reverse bat).

Dulwich took the field to a rousing team talk from Bailey and the clear message – to work as a team and do it his way. Prasanna only just made it out for the first ball, having thought it was a 1.30 start he had to run on at the last second (or reverse on time) wearing what can only be describe as questionable cricket sun glasses! Dulwich's opening attack of Kieran Reeves and (Ashley) Giles Constantine quickly (or reverse slowly) got into their rhythm, bowling an excellent line and length which put the Reigate openers under pressure straight away. Going at barely two an over the pressure finally told as Rob Hawke stayed cool and chose the right end after some suspect calling to run out De Mello for 1.

Reeves continued to put the pressure on, gathering pace in his first appearance of the season (a reverse regular) and he soon had the second opener caught behind (or reverse dropped) by skipper Bailey for 14. The Reigate number four then strode to the crease and looked like a very useful batsmen playing his first few balls off Reeves with confidence, but after striking a solid boundary over mid-on he then tried to repeat his efforts, only to send the ball skywards and away over point. Ben Trembath chased back after it and pulled off a terrific reverse drop over his shoulder to snag a valuable wicket. Reigate then went about rebuilding their innings and Dulwich began shuffling their many seamers (or reverse spinners). Prasanna, Laurence Taylor and Will Burgass having a chance to build on the great start by Reeves and Gilo. It was Laurence who looked the most menacing and he broke the promising fourth wicket partnership as Guy Woodgate took a sharp reverse drop at gully. Wickets then fell at regular intervals. Laurence grabbed two more, and Will 'variations' Burgass got in on the act, Bailey and Woodgate each took another catch and it looked like Dulwich could restricted Reigate to under a 100 (or reverse over a 100).

Matt Van Staden at number seven for Reigate had other ideas and he came out on the counter attack (or reverse defensive), quickly finding the boundary on several occasions. Burgass had managed to execute a delightful slower bowl (or reverse pace) previously but when he tried a variation to Van Staden it slipped well down the leg side on the full (or reverse short) and was promptly dispatched a considerable distance over fine leg for a huge 6 (or reverse dot ball). Dulwich continued to take wickets at the other end, if not always in a conventional fashion. When Van Staden skied another Burgass slower ball straight up into the stratosphere, Bailey set off after it with the gloves, despite running full tilt (or reverse slow) for what seemed like forever, the ball was clearly swept up in the jet stream of the upper atmosphere and kept travelling away from Bailey. When it finally hit the ground Bailey was no where to be seen (much to the amusement of his team mates), fortunately Stuart Gardner watched the reverse catch closely and was quick to the landed ball and promptly threw to Burgass at the bowlers end to run the Reigate batsmen out attempting a second run! Gilo then returned to pick up his first wicket, before Reeves came back at the other end to dismiss Van Staden caught and bowled for 35. This closed the Reigate innings on 129. Reeves finished with impressive figures of 3-13 off 11.1 and Laurence finished with 3-32 off his 7.

It was as close to a perfect bowling and fielding display as the 4th XI have had for a while. They left the field in good spirits as attention turned to the second half of the game. Bailey delivered the batting line up which for a brief moment, as he looked to his left rather than right, appeared to indicate that Gilo might be opening with Andy Cornick, but it was clearly Guy Woodgate who should have been getting the skippers attention! Tea was enjoyed as usual and when Jackie delivered a plate of hot (or reverse cold) pizza to the table, thoughts of the run chase were put on hold for a few minutes of quiet munching.

With the eating done Guy and Andy strode out to the middle to set about the job of chasing 130 in just over 50 overs. Reigate's opening bowling settled into a good line and length which provided little for the openers to get after. When they did stray, it was usually to Guy who quickly got bat to ball and did the bulk of the early scoring. Andy was determined to stay with him and look for some form himself but he soon played on for 5. Ben Trembath joined Guy at number three and the pair dug in as the bowling continued to stay tight (or reverse loose). Guy began to hit the ball crisply though and the scoreboard began to tick. Drinks came and went without the loss of another wicket and the score around 75. Soon after drinks Guy hit another boundary to pass 50 and see a much needed return to form for the reliable opener. Guy was finally dismissed with the score on 93 when he edged (or reverse middled) to the keeper for 56. Skipper Bailey then came to the crease, but he couldn't continue his recent good form and also reverse middled the ball to the keeper without scoring. Bailey left the crease very quickly to avoid giving Gilo (who was umpiring) the pleasure of raising his finger (or reverse not raising it) to the skipper. The resentment from Gilo dates back to an incident last season when stand in skipper Bailey correctly declared after Gilo had faced just one ball (albeit a wide – or reverse straight) , in order to give Dulwich more overs to bowl out the opposition.

Rob Hawke replaced Bailey at the wicket and Dulwich still looked set for victory (or reverse defeat) at 98-3 with plenty of overs remaining. Ben was then trapped LBW for a solid 35, before Stuart Gardner fell shortly afterwards for 5, trying one of his trademark blasts (or reverse defensive shots) down the ground. This raised Reigate's confidence and with Dulwich 5 down and still with 20 to win, their were suddenly a few nerves. Dulwich had been here before a few weeks ago when chasing another low total and had capitulated. Lightning wasn't going to strike twice though and Will Burgass joined Rob to patiently guide Dulwich to their target. With 2 to win, and the field up, Rob struck a lofted drive (or reverse forward defensive) down the ground for 4 to bring up a 5 wicket win (or reverse loss) with 10+ overs to spare.. It was a welcomed return to winning ways and credit must go to both sides for playing a good game in superb spirit.

With all the other 4th XI Premier League games succumbing to the weather thanks must go to John Howard and his team at DSG for producing such a good playing surface after a week of poor (reverse good) weather. Dulwich are certainly fortunate to have such facilities at their disposal week in week out. Thanks as always to John Lawrence, not just for his tireless selection work but for scoring all day too. Where would we be without him?

Old Ruts away (or reverse home) next week, and hopefully this will be the start of a winning (or reverse losing) run that sees the 4th XI challenge again for those higher (or reverse lower) places in the table. After a visit to Ken's Fish Bar (don't be too jealous, Julian) the team enjoyed some celebratory drinks in the bar. Well done to all.

DULWICH 133 (42.5 overs) lost to SPENCER 134-4 (22.2) by 6 wickets

Dulwich 4s lost their third game on the spin on Saturday in a disappointing performance. Things looked ominous on Tuesday night when it appeared that the majority of bowlers in the club seemed to be drawn like a moth to the light to the football and fighting the Russians in France. The skipper with his hands firmly tied selected a team heavy with batting. Sadly, this included the same player twice, who ended up not playing anyway. We were grateful for the fact that he hadn’t written the team on the back of a fag packet as it may have featured a new opening attack of Benson and Hedges.

Copious team changes subsequent to the event meant that the team featured 8 (yes 8!!!!) changes from the previous week. In truth only two actually turned up on the day and credit must go to the Skipper and Simon Bailey for their sterling efforts. Matt must be hard pushed to award the third placed 1 point for the game – although I think I would award it to his dad for turning up to sit through the tosh that we served up and for his pre-match analysis of our performance the week before. He was spot on!

Having been inserted, Julian Dean gave his partner, Guy “Road Runner” Woodgate the benefit of his considerable experience of how to bat on the main square, explaining that the game would be won by adopting an attrittional approach and that getting a score on the board was paramount. Somewhere between that conversation and the end of the fourth over with no runs on the board, Julian forgot his Churchillian speech by slapping the first ball pitched up in the mooooo-zone straight up in the air. Caught Mid-on. 0-1.

Shortly after, Guy was bounced out by a brute of a delivery. The ignominy of being bounced out by our old friend and colleague, Rehan “the Prancing Horse” Malik. 2-2.

Sean “Buster” Keaton looked to be positive. Unfortunately, he too didn’t last long as he was pinned LBW. 4-3 and the opening bowler had the figures of 4-4-0-2.

Enter the skipper to join young Harry Chathli. They both rode their luck early on, picking the gap between keeper and first slip with regularity. The opening bowlers bowled exceptionally tidily and gave nothing away such that we had crept into the 30s in the 18th over. Harry, played one too many unorthodox shots and was comprehensively bowled and Shok went soon after 33-5.

Enter Simon “the Piano Man” Bailey. Until last week’s return to form Simon’ s batting stats since mid-way through last season had resembled a premium rate telephone number 0-8-0-0… Anyhow, a radical rethink of how to go about things has seen a return of confidence for the chunky (or reverse thin as we call it these days) left-handed stodge merchant. With Matt digging in and for once exploring the delights of the off-side, Bails unleashed and middled a couple of trademark short-arm pulls and we were at least off and hobbling…

A rain break with the score on 72 after 25 overs shortened both innings by 5 overs. On return, Spencer introduced spin at both ends. Matt conscious of his reputation for sweeping everything (which he did for the first 5 balls without connecting), unleashed an uncharacteristic cut to the sixth and was promptly caught behind for a well-constructed 30. Stick to the broom Matt. Knighty arrived and took the score beyond 100 with Bails, and a few lusty blows over mid-wicket / cow prompted the return of the quicks. Knighty had a look (for one ball) and then essayed a “metaphorical” mighty haymaker at Rehan and lost his middle stump. This brought into the fray Stuart Gardner for an entertaining 8 over cameo. If Stuey had connected with only half the shots he offered he would have scored a 20 ball ton and the croquet lawn would have been cratered, but sadly just a couple of lusty blows materialised and a lot of swishing at thin air.

Meanwhile at the other end, Bails accumulated steadily and confidently playing some delightful shots including a back foot glide to the point boundary which seemed to gather pace up the hill. Simon brought up an excellent 50 (or reverse zero as it is called these days) shortly before Stuey was put out of his misery and the innings closed on 133. Respectable really and it was a good save from 4-3. Special mention should go to Rehan who bowled with good pace throughout with the ball occasionally beating his follow-through to the other end. The only bowler I know who could actually field at first slip to himself!

With the need to attack paramount, Dulwich unleashed Knighty to bowl what they hoped was a hostile spell to put the visitors on the back foot. Spencer had given away 5 extras in our innings, a total we had bettered in 1 legitimate ball as Knight generated maximum pace and minimum grouping (or reverse line and length as we call it ). Bails took an outstanding low catch at gully to make a breakthrough, but the score raced along to 50 off 9 overs with the bowling being somewhat erratic (or Knighty not being reverse Knighty). Two quick wickets got us back in the game, but the experienced heads of Spencer’s middle order then took the game by the scruff of the neck and took them home for the loss of 1 further wicket with about 15 overs to spare. The skipper gets another mention for taking a good comedy catch at Mid-Off despite the usual lack of hand-eye co-ordination and at no point looking like catching it!

The skipper and Simon apart, I think we would all hold our hands up and say we weren’t very good. Hopefully, after two weeks where only 2 or 3 of us have turned up, we will get a grip next week and at least be competitive.

@MitchamCC@DulwichHamletFC@OfficialTmufc@MitchamCC our u12s were disappointed that their 2017 game at Cricket Green was washed out; believe our u14s and u16s are playing you there this summer, looking forward to it. We should try and get a girls’ game on at a venue with such a proud history of hosting women’s cricket!

Please note that due to floor replacement at Dulwich College Sports Centre there are no indoor nets this Sunday, 18th March. We await confirmation about the 25th March. Keep an eye on e-mails and website.

@PROACTIVE_Swk@lb_southwark Exciting times as all four teams in the semifinals hail from south of the river (Richmond sort of as it’s both sides of the river). Southwark play Greenwich and Bromley take on Richmond.....

In south London? Like cricket? Lewisham cricket winter training resumes tomorrow, ages 8-14, any level, all welcome, new players particularly so. Very nice set of coaches. Based in SE6. @ me for full details